EMC’s Isilon division buys storage software company Likewise

The Isilon Storage Division of EMC Corp. is expanding its footprint in its own backyard, gobbling up Bellevue software storage startup Likewise in a deal of undisclosed size.

In a letter, Likewise CEO Barry Crist called the deal a “solid win for all involved.”

“With the acquisition, the Likewise team will be joining the leader in all meaningful segments of the storage industry, including one that is very dear to us: unstructured data storage and management,” writes Crist in the letter. “EMC is a great family for ours to join, and I predict that many of the best times for the Likewise team are still ahead of us.”

Barry Crist

Crist declined to comment when contacted by GeekWire, referring us to a representative at EMC’s Isilon unit. EMC purchased Isilon for $2.25 billion in December 2010, and since then it has continued to expand rapidly at a new facility in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood.

UPDATE: Isilon’s Chris Blessington declined to disclose how much they paid for Likewise or how many people will be joining the company as a result of the deal.

The acquisition comes after Likewise sold its Likewise Enterprise and Likewise Open products to BeyondTrust last summer. Founded seven years ago, Likewise (formerly Centeris) had raised $27 million from investors such as Ignition Partners and Trinity Ventures. After the sale to BeyondTrust, the company employed 23 people.

Likewise was originally started with the premise of helping companies more easily manage and access data across Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac environments.